Use this search engine for graphic resources from around the web. Search for graphics in many file formats such as vector, icons, and photos for use with your websites, presentations, and any other graphic needs. In addition to graphics, Freepik offers templates for flyers, posters, and brochures. Many resources offer options for customizing text and color. Each item includes details for editing and downloading, including information on crediting the author. Note: As with most clipart search engines, there are graphics on this site that are not appropriate for children. TeachersFirst suggests that an adult looks for appropriate graphics to distribute to students.This site includes advertising.

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These graphics and templates are free to download and use (with appropriate credit). This site is great if you need some clever clipart to jazz up student handouts, classroom bulletin boards, or PowerPoint/Keynote presentations. Special Ed, speech/language, or ESL/ELL teachers may find these images helpful when working with non-readers or non-verbal students. There is also web clipart that you can use for your blog, class webpage, or wiki.

FreshGrade is more than a classroom management system; it also creates eportfolios for all students. Easily capture, provide feedback, and share student work with this tool. Use FreshGrade to post lessons, assignments, and due dates. Keep track of grades and allow students to contribute video, audio, images, and comments to their eportfolios. Easily share with parents who can also comment. Create an account using your email and start setting up your classes. Click the drop-down arrow next to your name for support. The support is extensive: find a Quick Start Guide, Walkthrough Video, comprehensive Product Guide, FAQ's, Knowledge Base, and a Video Library. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Use FreshGrade to manage and organize any classroom. Maintain a classroom calendar so students can easily find due dates and deadlines for homework and projects. Share information with parents to keep them up to date. Even if your school or district already has a learning management system for tracking grades, use FreshGrade for the student portfolios and easy parent inclusion. Record classroom activities and student learning with photos or videos using your mobile device. Show students how to document their learning and make comments in their portfolio. Share portfolios with parents, not just at conference time, but any time the student portfolio is updated to keep parents in the loop. Share student accounts with other teachers they may have.

Docs.com is Microsoft's file sharing service and part of their Office Suite of tools. Consider it your online showroom for Word Documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDF's, and PowerPoint and Sway presentations. When you first sign in (with email), you will be prompted to create an "About" page that can serve as your online resume or portfolio. However, you can do this later. Jump right in and upload files from your computer, One Drive, or Sway. Before saving, use options to customize visibility and allow comments and downloads from viewers. Create collections using your uploaded documents or documents found through sharing. The journal feature uses Sway to set up and share online journals. Share content using social networking links or copy and paste the link to your document or collection. Docs.com is no longer allowing signups and will be discontinued on December 15th.

In the Classroom

Take advantage of the many features of Docs.com to organize and manage documents by teaching units. Build and share collections with students for use at home. Have students develop and curate collections for class projects. Collaborate with peers by creating collections for different teaching units or professional development activities.

Airtable is an online database for collaboration incorporating many different online platforms. Attach files from services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote to share. Collaborators can view the change history, link data, and engage in chat. Free templates offer options for creating study guides, book lists, and more. Free accounts offer unlimited databases with storage of up to 1200 records each and a 2GB attachment limit.

In the Classroom

Use Airtable to collaborate on lessons with other teachers, both local and across the world. Share with students to use when collaborating on projects or to create study guides. Use the provided templates to catalog your books or share study guides with students.

Create and share custom online event invitations using Splash. Choose from the many templates to design and add information, RSVP questions, confirmations, and event settings. Splash even automatically creates a custom hashtag for use with your event. Be sure to follow the tutorials to get a good overview of Splash's capabilities.This site includes advertising.

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The possibilities for using Splash seem endless. Use this for planning parties, bringing in materials for projects, and any other activity that requires coordination. If you have limited technology availability, this is a great way for teachers or students to sign up for time slots to use laptops, iPads, cameras, or a podcast recording station. Go paperless with signups! Organize your parent/teacher conferences. Plan student research of class projects using this resource. Help students build organizational skills by having them "plan" a mythical (or actual) event such as a museum opening for their Famous Americans exhibit. Use this tool for any middle or high school club, career day, or sports team to organize their own events. Share with your school's parent organization to help them plan the next school event.

Cat in the Hat runs for president, and he wants children to decide the most important issues to address! His running mates are Thing 1 and Thing 2. Learn about the campaign and the causes - ocean conservation, environment, hunger, education, or kindness - by clicking either Video or Causes from the menu on the left. There are also free Activities downloadable in PDF format. See where each cause stands in the voting towards the bottom of the page. The cause and organization with the most votes will receive $10,000.00 from Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Random House Children's Books. All votes must be in by midnight November 8, 2016. The winning cause and organization will be announced December 1, 2016. If your district blocks YouTube, the video may not be viewable. You could always view the video at home and bring it to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the video from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Take advantage of this unique opportunity to get young students involved and thinking about the democratic process. Pique their interest by showing the video with your projector to the whole class. Break students into small groups and have them read and discuss the different causes. Have them take an initial vote within their group for the cause they would like to support. If there is not a consensus among the group, have each student, in turn, tell why they think the cause they like should be the most important and receive the vote. You could vote as a class or have students vote individually.

For older students, there is an opportunity to practice being persuasive; this is a perfect introduction to these causes, and students could research their favorite cause and learn facts about why it is indeed a cause or issue. Students could work on this in small groups supporting the same cause. They could then put together a multimedia presentation for their peers to try and convince them to vote for their cause. TeachersFirst has several Edge tools that would work well for this presentation: Ignite, reviewed here. With the web-based Ignite, students can collaborate on creating a multi-layered, unique multimedia project with text, images, and video. The iPad app allows them to add audio, too. Padlet, is an online bulletin board maker, reviewed here, or Thinglink, reviewed here, where students create an annotated, narrated image including text boxes and related links (even videos). If you would like your students to have a little pre-practice with using persuasion, you could have them complete the exercises on ThinkCerca, reviewed here, or Drafting Board, reviewed here.

Prism is a tool for "crowdsourcing interpretation" of text. Create your own Prism or browse through Prisms available on the site. To create a Prism, add text and choose options for highlighting such as red for demonstrating foreshadowing or blue for feminism. Before finishing, add the title and author and include credit for the work using their drop-down tool providing options. Watch the introductory video, which resides on YouTube, for a full overview of how to create and use Prism. If your district blocks YouTube, the video may not be viewable. You could always view the video at home and bring it to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the video from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Use Prism to explore text collaboratively with your students. Paste in portions of any text and have students highlight indicated features or ask them to highlight areas of confusion. Students will need a Prism account; however, their work is anonymous when added to Prisms. Use the completed Prisms to assess student understanding and as a springboard for classroom discussions. Use across the curriculum to highlight and interpret texts in all subjects. Create Prisms for newspaper articles from different sources, have students highlight factual information, then compare and contrast information found using an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here. If students cannot have their own email accounts, consider using a "class set" of Gmail subaccounts, explained here; this tells how to set up Gmail subaccounts to use for any online membership service. Using Gmail subaccounts will provide anonymous interaction within your class.

Primary vs. Secondary Sources is an excellent YouTube video explaining the difference between these two types of sources. The video provides several examples of each type of source and tells why it fits into that category. If your district blocks YouTube, then this video may not be viewable. You could always view the video at home and bring it to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the video from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Share this video with students as they begin any research project. Be sure to add a link to this site on your class website for reference at home. Have students create a simple infographic with examples of both types of resources using Easel.ly, reviewed here. Have students upload a photo they have taken of a source and add voice bubbles to explain why it fits into a particular category using a tool such as Superlame, reviewed here.

Carrd is a simple to use, one-page website creator. Think of it as similar to an online business card. Begin by choosing from available templates or start with a blank page. A quick page of instructions provides an overview of tools available to use, including adding images, links to social media accounts, tables, and more. When complete, save and publish to your unique carrd.co URL. Please check out the templates and published wording used. It may be inappropriate for your students.

In the Classroom

Use this site for students to post simple projects such as stories, poems, and art projects. For easy access, collect a master list of links to student pages on your classroom website, wiki, blog, or create an interactive Google doc or form for collecting these. If students are creating pages, be sure to check with your district's policy on publishing student work. Each website created has a private URL. Students can use this tool at home for presentations and email you the URL for their completed work. Compile the presentation URLs on your class blog or wiki, or a Google doc so all students have access. Integrate all subjects into Carrd. The simplicity of this site would make it an easy tool for younger students to create eportfolios with links to and explanations of their various projects located elsewhere on the web.

Create a poster (meme), postcard, or add captions to a photo. Also, resize and crop images. Save in medium or best quality to your device or download as a PDF or Word doc easily with Picfont. No registration is required. Choose images from your computer or device or select a picture from the gallery. Change not just the color and size of the font, but add an outline in any color and size, place it anywhere on the photo, and many more effects. Use Picfont to spice up social media postings; select to create a Facebook header, and a post with photos, a Twitter header and an In-stream, an Instagram Post, a LinkedIn cover, or select from several ad sizes. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click features for directions about how to use the different features of Picfont.This site includes advertising.

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Use this easy tool to add captions to images, create memes, or posters for your bulletin boards. Use this easy tool with students during back to school time as a way for them to get to know each other. Have students upload a picture of themselves doing their favorite activity and label it with amusing text or a favorite quote (or song lyrics?). Have them upload images that represent their interests and character traits. Print the images with text for a back-to-school bulletin board. Use after a field trip for students to write captions on the photos they took. Be sure to share the photos on your class web page, blog, or wiki. Haven't started blogging yet? Check out TeachersFirst's Blog Basics. For other uses, have students practice new words in a world language class by labeling and identifying images in that language. Create writing prompts using several annotated images. Have students create annotated images to explain key terms in science class. In ELA class, make homophone or vocabulary images to show the correct word along with a picture that explains it.

Wordie is a free vocabulary tool for EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers; however, it is also a very useful tool for all teachers. Begin by typing or pasting in text in the provided box. Use up to 1500 characters without registering. Register for free using your email to use unlimited characters. Choose the reading level you want to assign to the text, then click submit. Wordie analyzes the text and provides two boxes with word banks. The first includes vocabulary applicable to that reading level, the second displays included words above that level. Uncheck any boxes next to words you prefer not to include as vocabulary. Use the Print Preview to create a printable including the entire text with vocabulary to learn in a featured word box.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this site as a useful tool for teaching vocabulary from any text. Copy portions of literature into Wordie to identify and create vocabulary lists for students. Differentiate for student abilities based on reading levels. Use Wordie to develop student writing skills. Ask them to copy their writing into Wordie and run the analysis at a reading level you prefer. If there isn't enough new vocabulary words, challenge students to rewrite in a way that reaches a higher reading level. Use Wordie with ESL/ELL learners to point out difficult vocabulary in reading passages before reading.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional development session from August 2016, opens in Adobe Connect. Create powerful, engaging, and interactive presentations using the latest Microsoft Office add-in for PowerPoint -- Office Mix. Learn to use Office Mix for recording video, screen capturing, adding annotations, making interactive questions and assessments, sharing online and data analytics. You can easily Flip your classroom with Mix while tracking students' understanding. You must attend this session on a laptop or desktop computer that has a full version of Microsoft PowerPoint installed. Additionally, participants MUST download and install the free Office Mix add-in. You will not be able to CREATE Office Mix learning objects on an Android or Apple tablet or via Office 365. You can access and use them on those devices but not create them. As a result of this session and through individual follow-up, teachers will: (1) Learn the basic functions of Microsoft Mix; (2) Explore three different ways to use Microsoft Mix in the classroom; and (3) Plan for the use of Microsoft Mix in the classroom. Remember, it is OK2Ask'® questions at any time! This session is appropriate for teachers at an INTERMEDIATE technology level.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional development session from August 2016, opens in Adobe Connect. Microsoft's Office Online is a completely free, web-based version of Microsoft Office. This online office suite is clearly competing with Google Docs, but it's also a potential replacement for the desktop version of Office. In this workshop, we'll discuss the similarities and differences between Office Online, the desktop version of Microsoft Office and Google Docs. Participants will understand how to use OneDrive for file sharing; OneNote for curating resources and creating portfolios; Excel Survey for data collection, registrations, surveys, and assessment; and Outlook.com for email and calendar. We will also share time-saving ways to make Outlook and Calendar work for you; as well as strategies for staying organized, easily sharing files, and using these tools with your students. As a result of this session and through individual follow-up, teachers will: (1) Understand the differences between features available in the desktop version of Microsoft Office, Office Online, and Google Docs; (2) Explore classroom applications for Excel Survey and OneNote; and (3) Plan for the use of Office Online in the classroom. Remember, it is OK2Ask'® questions at any time! This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional development session from August 2016, opens in Adobe Connect. You and your students can create and share engaging interactive reports, presentations, assignments, projects and more with Sway, a free app from Microsoft Office. This session will introduce Sway as attendees transform an outline to an engaging, modern presentation using Sway, Microsoft's new digital storytelling and presentation app. Create presentations that focus on content rather than bells and whistles. Get up and running within a class period. Sway is accessible on any device, making it a perfect addition to your 1:1 initiative toolbox. As a result of this session and through individual follow-up, teachers will: (1) Learn basic use of the Microsoft Sway tool; (2) Explore three different ways to use Microsoft Sway in the classroom; and (3) Plan for the use of Microsoft Sway in the classroom. Remember, it is OK2Ask'® questions at any time! This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional development session from August 2016, opens in Adobe Connect. Google forms can support classroom instruction AND improve teacher productivity. You can use Google Forms to create surveys and quizzes; collect research data, and plan events. Unlike other "freemium" web-based form tools, Google Forms is completely free and allows for unlimited questions and responses, as well as logic branching. Once completed and shared, recipients can easily fill out and submit their responses. A Google form is automatically connected to a spreadsheet with the same title. When you send or share a form, recipients' responses will automatically be collected in that spreadsheet. As a result of this session and through individual follow-up, teachers will: (1) Explore the features of Google Forms; (2) Discover a variety of uses for Google Forms; and (3) Create a basic Google Form. Remember, it is OK2Ask'® questions at any time! This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional development session from August 2016, opens in Adobe Connect. Explore some of the many tools that Google has to offer. Learn more about using Gmail in the classroom, Google Calendar, Google Drive (including templates and docs/forms), and Google Keep! Other tools including Photos, Google Plus, and Flubaroo will also be explored. A question/answer period will also be available. As a result of this session and through individual follow-up, teachers will: (1) Explore Google Templates, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Keep, and Google Plus and learn a few teaching features; (2) Evaluate selected tools available for use in your curriculum; (3) Explore topics and lesson ideas that could be enhanced using Google Tools; (4) Learn how to leverage available tools in Gmail for increased productivity; and (5) Find solutions to individual questions or practical problems. Remember, it is OK2Ask'® questions at any time! This session is appropriate for teachers at an INTERMEDIATE technology level.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

ScreenShot is free online image editing service. Upload an image from your computer, then use the tools and filters to adjust the photograph as desired. ScreenShot contains basic photo imaging tools for at-home users, as well as more advanced tools for more seasoned photo editors. Choose from many different effects to make your images unique. When finished editing, view the image at the URL provided, download, or share using social networking links.This site includes advertising.

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Use this tool anytime you need to edit photos for use on class blogs, wikis, or in presentation tools. In primary grades, this tool can be useful for teachers to use to edit pictures from a field trip, science experiments, and more. Share the editing process with younger students using an interactive whiteboard or projector. Edit together! Encourage older students to use this site themselves on images for projects or presentations. Use this tool in photography or art classes. Use the editor to edit pictures to fit styles of pictures when doing historical reports or to set a mood. Use text options for the photos themselves to tell the stories. Have students annotate or label Creative Commons online images of cells, structures of an animal, and much more.

Ribbet is an online photo editing and sharing site that doesn't require sign-up, download, or installation. Follow prompts to upload images, then use Ribbet's editing tools to crop, resize, and fine tune the photo. Liven-up images with stickers, filters, or create collages and more with Ribbet's additional photo tools. When finished, download the picture to your computer or share to Facebook and photo storage sites using the links provided. Free registration allows users to save images and editing history to Ribbet.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Ribbet anytime photos need to be edited on class blogs, wikis, or sites. Encourage older students to use this tool themselves on images for projects or presentations. Use Ribbet to edit pictures to look "old" when doing historical reports or to set a mood. In primary grades, use this tool to edit pictures from a field trip, science experiments, and more. Share the editing process with younger students using an interactive whiteboard or projector, and edit the project together!

Share stories using digital images and Microsoft Photo Story 3 software. Download the software onto your Windows operating system to begin. With Photo Story 3 you can edit images, add effects, soundtracks, and narrate your story. When finished, the small file size allows for easy sharing and viewing.
Although Photo Story 3 is an excellent and useful program, there are several things users need to consider. Photo Story is only compatible with Windows XP operating systems and higher, not on Macs. Windows has not issued updates for the program in several years and has not released a similar product since that time. Consider using similar resources such as Animoto reviewed here or Stupeflix reviewed here as alternative options if needed.

In the Classroom

Photo Story 3 is an excellent way for students to create and share things that they photograph. Challenge students to give oral reports using Photo Story 3 as the visual part of their presentation. Have students take pictures during field trips to use in a Photo Story 3 to display what they saw and learned. Photograph steps of a science experiment. Alternatively, have students search for Creative Commons and Public Domain images to use as part of a slideshow biography about a prominent person in history. Use to tell the story of the water cycle or another process. Create a Photo Story 3 to use for review of classroom topics. Have students create a Photo Story 3 presentation demonstrating learning in any subject area such as Civil War events, different characteristics of animals, etc. Create a slide show for your elementary classroom as part of an informal, sharing presentation. Upload a picture that each student has drawn and have students tell the class about the picture in their own words. What a great way to get young students acclimated to talking in front of a group.

Though this blog has current articles, this particular 2015 article offers suggestions for the first of five activities for creating community in the middle school classroom at the start of ANY school year. Each activity offers students the opportunity to participate in a risk-free situation while getting to know each other and the teacher. Find the remaining four activities in the site archive on the left menu, In Case You Missed It, under July 2015.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Be sure to check out the entire Did I Miss Anything Yesterday? blog for additional activities and ideas for teaching middle school students. Take advantage of the exercises in this article to use at the beginning of the school year or new semesters. After finishing an activity, have students or groups share information learned from fellow students using Padlet, reviewed here. The Padlet application creates free online bulletin boards.